Research the archive
Narrow 25,688 newspaper stories by words, years, place, newspaper and subject. See when and where they ran, then download what you find.
Put a phrase in quotes ("rent strike") or leave a word out with a minus (strike -baseball). Old scans misspell names, so when little is found, near-spellings are offered.
Refine1 on
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 1 |
| 1893 | 11 |
| 1894 | 12 |
| 1895 | 11 |
45 stories matching lien
- State Supreme Court Upholds Lake Washington Canal Contract, Clearing the Way for Tide-Land Transformation
The Washington Supreme Court rules that the Lake Washington Waterway Company's contract to dig a canal and fill tide lands is constitutional, rejecting a landowner's challenge and affirming the state's power to remake the waterfront.
- The $3 Million Scheme to Turn Seattle's Tide Flats into Dry Land
A private company plans to dredge the Duwamish and fill Elliott Bay's mudflats — paid not in cash but in land and liens — while St. Louis money waits to see the ground before it bets.
- The Law That Vanished Overnight
When a new legislative act replaced the state's logger's lien law, it inadvertently vaporized the legal standing of workers fighting for their unpaid wages.
- The Judge Who Warned Seattle Not to Sell Its Waterfront to a Canal Company
In 1894, Judge John J. McGilvra urged Congress to build the Lake Washington Ship Canal and warned that a private company's tideflat scheme would put tolls on the water and enrich speculators at public expense.
- The Logger’s Right to be Paid
A landmark Supreme Court decision upholds the right of loggers to place liens on timber they harvested, shielding laborers from corporate efforts to dodge payroll.
- Seattle’s Tide-Flats Canal Clears the Court
The state Supreme Court upholds the Seattle Lake Washington Waterway Company’s contracts, leaving only a $500,000 subsidy before dredging begins.
- The Endless Legal Battle for the Denny Hotel
A massive, years-long legal tangle over liens and mortgages stalls the completion of one of Seattle's most ambitious building projects.
- Logging Camp Cook Sues for Back Pay
After cooking for a crew and cutting 140,000 feet of timber, a camp cook files a lien on the logs themselves to recover his unpaid wages.
- A Revolver at Her Ear: Mary Steel's Third Fight for a Divorce
Mary Steel's third divorce suit against David H. Steel laid bare a bitter fight over $49,000 in Seattle and Montana property—and allegations of violence, control and intimidation.
- The Grading Debt That Never Was
A judge rules that Seattle property owners don't have to pay for street improvements that the city never actually finished.
- The Tax Collector’s Secret: How Seattle Officials Hid Debts to Profit from Advertising
A local newspaper exposes a scheme where the School District collector withheld tax information, forcing taxpayers to pay exorbitant advertising fees to clear liens they didn't know existed.
- The Diamond Palace Jeweler Who Vanished With the Stock
Simon Rumpf’s 'Diamond Palace' is placed in receivership after creditors allege he conspired to transfer his stock and then disappeared.
- City Hall's Construction Contractor Fails to Pay Up
Creditors are circling the new city building on Third Street as liens are filed against the project.
- San Francisco Capitalists Plan a New Waterway at Smith's Cove
A newly incorporated dredging company asks the state for the right to dig out and fill Seattle's northern tide flats, promising wharves, railroad yards and mills.
- The Great Tax Delinquency Scramble
A new revenue law threatens to wipe out old tax liens, forcing officials to chase down thousands of property owners to clear the county books before the November deadline.
- The Ghost of the Tug Mystic
After being run down by a larger ship and sitting on the bottom of Puget Sound for months, the tug Mystic becomes the subject of a legal tug-of-war.
- The Fight to Protect Seattle’s Builders from Disappearing Contractors
In 1891, local lawmakers drafted a landmark lien law to ensure workers and suppliers were paid even when contractors fled with the money.
- The Steamer That Slipped Through the Owners’ Hands
The Pacific Navigation Company sues the men who bought the Henry Bailey, claiming unpaid debts and liens sent the vessel to a marshal’s auction.
- The Struggle for Smith's Bay: A Foreclosure on Progress
A landmark Seattle building faces the auction block as labor claims and land disputes entangle a growing city.
- The End of the Railroad Land Grab
A trio of government decisions finally ends the Northern Pacific's long-standing practice of seizing settler homes in Washington Territory.
- An Indigenous Man Challenges a Broken Contract
A legal dispute over a fishing net reveals the tension between Indigenous property rights and the courts.
- The Great Canal Scheme Blocked
A judge strikes down a law that would have allowed private contractors to dig the Lake Washington canal and seize tide lands for profit.
- Guilty in Two Minutes: The Bunko Man With a Revolver in His Past
Knowlton, alias 'Robert George,' was convicted of swindling an Aberdeen banker with two copper bars sold as gold—then prosecutors unpacked a record that included a murdered minister and a courtroom shooting.
- A Landlord, a Seized Trunk, and a Lady Left in Her Shift
After months on the run, a Populist orator is arrested at a poultry show for holding a tenant's only clothes hostage over unpaid rent.
- The Unfinished Street
Property owners battle the city over a tax assessment for a street that was never built.